By Zhang Mei
Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has recently approved high school textbooks to be used from 2027, with some history textbooks deliberately downplaying, denying, or whitewashing Japan's history of aggression. The Japanese authorities have continued to push for revisions to history textbooks, attempting to manipulate wording to obscure historical truth and mislead the public, especially the younger generation, in their understanding of history, and even to systematically erase societal memory of wartime crimes. Such practices, which disseminate and embed the toxic elements of militarist thinking in history education, not only incite extremist sentiment within Japan, but also serve as an ideological justification for the country's military expansion, thereby endangering Japan itself and undermining regional peace.
The ideological roots of Japan's neo-militarism lie in its persistent inheritance of the pernicious legacy of prewar militarism. The core cultural underpinnings that once nourished Japanese militarism in the modern era, particularly the toxic elements embedded in ideological constructs such as the "imperial view of history" (Kōkoku Shikan), did not disappear with Japan's defeat in WWII. Instead, they have continued to persist and evolve under the indulgence of right-wing forces in Japan. The so-called imperial view of history portrays Japan as a "divine nation," elevates the Yamato people as a "superior race," and glorifies external expansion as a "mission" to "liberate Asia." This set of fallacies continues to shape and dominate right-wing historical narratives to this day.
Revising textbooks and distorting historical understanding have become key instruments of Japan's neo-militarism, used to shape the younger generation and lay the groundwork for military expansion. In narratives concerning forced labor and "comfort women," the removal of critical terms such as "coercion" and "forced conscription," and the reframing of acts of aggression as "self-defense," amounts in essence to laundering historical crimes through education. This facilitates the intergenerational transmission of a distorted historical consciousness, subtly conditioning younger generations in Japan to accept right-wing historical narratives and making them a potential audience for the resurgence of militarism. The knife-wielding intrusion by a member of Japan's Self-Defense Forces into the Chinese Embassy in Japan in March this year starkly illustrates the corrosive effects of such indoctrination.
The packaging of various false narratives serves as a "mask" for Japan to mislead the international community and circumvent international constraints. Contemporary right-wing politicians in Japan are adept at manipulating international discourse. Under the pretext of "responding to surrounding threats" and "upholding the international order," they have substantially increased defense spending, expanded military capabilities, and even sought to relax restrictions on the export of lethal weapons. They portray this series of militaristic moves as "democratic" choices aimed at achieving "national normalization" and safeguarding national security. Japan's defense budget for fiscal year 2026 has exceeded 9 trillion yen, nearly twice its education budget. This means that the younger generation in Japan is not only being shaped by distorted historical narratives, but is also burdened with the heavy social costs brought about by military expansion.
The historical revisionist tendencies embedded in Japan's neo-militarism are seriously undermining regional peace and the international order. No amount of false narratives can conceal the essence of Japan's neo-militarism, which seeks to pave the way for military expansion through political boundary-breaking and diplomatic provocation. The international community must remain highly vigilant and firmly oppose Japan's historical revisionist actions. Japan should face up to its historical responsibilities, thoroughly eliminate the remnants of militarism, and abandon the misguided path of military expansion. Only by doing so can it avoids repeating the mistakes of history.
(The author is from the Center for Promotion of Cultural Development, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)